In Vladikavkaz, meeting of Ossetian and Ingush bloggers and journalists took place

On August 6 the first meeting of the Ossetian-Ingush bloggers and journalists was held in North Ossetia. The bloggers discussed interethnic relations and the impact of confrontation in the network on the issues of conflict resolution. The Ingush side was the initiator of the meeting.

Despite the intricate relations between the Ossetians and the Ingushes, both sides spoke openly and frankly during the meeting. For the Ossetian side, the main topics of concern included the security issues, the terror acts, which occur in the North Ossetian region, the Islamization of the society, the attitude towards women in hijabs. The Ingush side raised issues on the return of refugee and the problem of the Prigorodny District.

The conversation took place in a free atmosphere without a moderator.

Each participant could speak up. The only condition that has been stipulated – to show respect for each other and do not interrupt.

The pace of the conversation was set by Alan Tskhurbaev, well-known Ossetian blogger and journalist, who also writes a blog on the "Caucasian Knot" website. He raised the topic of correspondence in the Internet-based networks between the Ossetians and the Ingushes, which results in recriminations.

"Here, I would like to ask people to move away from historical disputes in the network. We are not historians. I wish that we criticized for what we were doing now and discussed, what we were to do not to quarrel in the future," said Alan Tskhurbaev.

Beslan Bekov, a blogger from Ingushetia, told in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the representatives of the meeting parties "did not solve everything". "However, we have sanely, humanly taken a step towards each other well. This is the most important thing," Bekov has noted. According to him, the journalists and bloggers are able to change the situation – initially, the positive background on both sides should be created.

"There should not be that a negative image of Ingush person would be created by the South Ossetian media, and there should not be that a negative image of Ossetian person would be created by the Ingush media. We should take specific steps towards each other," Beslan Bekov believes.